Caught In a Storm
by tectrices
Summary: Remus/Sirius, prompt: April showers. A surprising revelation is made in the rain; who does it involve? What is it?. Remus has a furry little problem.  Sirius figures out what it is.


When one spends as much time running from his friends as he does running _to_ his friends, it is safe to assume he has made an art of escape.

"Remus, you feeling all right, mate?"

Remus nods, his smile tight on his pale, drawn face. "Yes, I'm fine, actually. I feel – "

"Fantastic?" Sirius finishes for him, his voice dripping sarcasm as he swipes a sausage from Peter's plate.

"Hey! Sirius, that was – "

"You'll be fine." He scoots closer, leaning over the table to peer at Remus with dark, accusing eyes. "But _you_, Mr. Lupin…"

Remus swallows nervously and hopes the Sirius cannot see how unnerved he is. James is shifting his attention from Remus to his plate, and doing a poor job of hiding the face. Peter sulks over his breakfast, and Remus wishes that for once he'd fight Sirius' incessant picking. He doesn't like being in the spotlight; he never really has. "_What_, Mr. Black?" he asks, archly, trying to deflect. "I'm fine, I've told you. And I don't imagine it's any of your business if I'm feeling poorly or not." He looks back down at his eggs, stirring them purposefully with his fork. _That_, his posture seems to say, is the end of that.

But of course it isn't.

"Ahh!" James announces, his mouth half-full of porridge, "that's the first sign. Right there, that something's wrong." He points his spoon towards Remus, who is sitting beside him. "Denial."

"Denial," Sirius repeats, and he is not teasing, as James is. There is something in his voice that makes Remus very nervous. "So, there's nothing wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"Then you'll be more than up for shenanigans tonight, no doubt involving a great deal of cunning and physical agility?"

"Oh no good, think I've got homework."

"You finished it yesterday."

"Not my transfig – "

Sirius catches his wrist as he reaches for an orange. He gives Remus an impatient look. "Day _before_ yesterday."

Remus frowns. "Sirius, I really don't think it's a big deal that I don't want to go… cause whatever mischief you've got planned for tonight."

Sirius grunts, but releases him. They continue eating, and thought James strikes up a conversation about "some girl" that fools no one, Remus and Sirius remain silent. They finish eating not too long after that; and as they are leaving the Great Hall, Sirius says curiously, "You know, it's the full moon in a few days." He gives Remus a significant look. "I've got something planned. _Surely_ you'll be up for that."

"Oh, er, right." Remus is hit with a cold sweat and he wants to get away from his friends as fast as he can. "That night's wide open."

It is three the next morning when he wakes up, his head pounding and his stomach queasy. He makes it to the bathroom before he vomits, but it is not conducive to rest and he does not feel like crawling back into bed and making himself sleep.

The glass in the window is cool, and he can see rain falling outside. They've snuck out countless times before; he'd have no trouble now, even without James' cloak. So he pulls on a woolen jumper and grabs his wand and makes his way stealthily towards the grounds.

He does not notice he is being followed.

Remus is outside, the rain cool on his face, when he hears loud footsteps crunching in the grass behind him. He whirl around, wand out, but with a sigh of relief he realizes it's only Sirius.

"Sirius! It's you. What are you doing up at this hour?"

The other boy crosses his arms over his chest and gives Remus an exasperated look. "I could really ask you the same thing," he says. Remus doesn't respond and he drops his arms, moving closer. "You weren't in your bed."

"Of course I wasn't, I'm out here. Now go back inside and leave me – "

"Which," Sirius continues, as though he hadn't heard a thing, "would be acceptable if you had a reason to be out of bed, but as you've chosen to come outside in the middle of the night in the _rain_, I'm going to cross out romantic rendezvous. Which is a shame, really, you know how I've been hoping you'll be involved in some torrid affair. I've seen how the Astronomy professor's been making eyes at you."

"Go away," Remus says sternly, but as always Sirius seems determined not to listen.

"Why?" he asks, storming up to his friend. "What's wrong? Something's obviously wrong, but you refuse to talk about it. Why's this so hard to tell us?"

"You don't understand," Remus tells him. He feels stupid just saying it, and he wants more than anything to end the conversation. "Let's go back inside," he says, "and we'll – "

"We're not going to talk about it in the morning. It's not… It's not a big deal, Remus. I know."

"What?"

Sirius sighs and moves even closer, his eyes suddenly sympathetic. His fringe is plastered to his forehead and he has to blink every few seconds to keep the water from dripping into his eyes. "I don't care, mate, and I know James and Peter wouldn't either."

"Care? Why should you _care_? There's nothing… there's nothing to care about, Sirius."

"Remus! Look, I know you're a bloody werewolf!"

There is silence for a long, deafening moment. Remus' voice is hoarse and scratchy, and he can hardly make it leave his throat. "Wh-what?"

Sirius sighs again and slings an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Let's go inside, yeah? Rain's starting to get worse." They don't speak as they walk inside, though Remus is near trembling with anxiety. "I really don't," Sirius says quietly as the portrait swings open to let them into the common room. "You're still Remus, just… furrier."

"Furrier?"

Sirius grins, and it's the first time since the morning before that Remus has felt at ease.

"D'you… What about Pete and James?"

"Daft git," Sirius says affectionately. "This is no different than Peter being stupid or Jim being an incorrigible idiot around Evans. We put up with them, don't we? And we'll all put up with you, sneaking off every month. Now we'll just know why."

"Thanks," Remus says sincerely.

Sirius shrugs it off. "Hey," he says, "it's not a big deal. The four of us, right? Forever."

"Yeah." Remus grins. "The four of us."

* * *

Thanks for reading!


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